Just a bit longer...

Can it be that we've been in school for four whole weeks already?  Some days it seems we've been in for several months and then others...well, I can still vividly recall the hot, fun, lazy days of summer.

Honestly, I've been in denial about this upcomoing fall season.  It's usually my favorite time of year.  It's the season Jim and I got married (12yrs. this last Sunday), the weather turns just a bit cooler and the wind picks up.  School supplies are everywhere and thoughts turn to upcoming holidays.

And while all of those things are still fun, I find myself really missing my summer.  It just about matches my last summer in Maryland.  One of the best on record.  At that point our kids were 2 and 4 and at just the right age to be doing things independently.  By things I mean, getting up and down from the table, using the bathroom, and brushing teeth.  Those are the pieces of paranting that wear me out so to gain some independence in that area...well, what a great place to be indeed. 

And then we moved. 

And everything seemed to go two steps back.  Oh how tiring that time in my life was.  Well, not to mention I was 10wks. pregnant with Sara at the time.  So, we whethered the storm that is toddlerhood from time to time and then eventually those hard days lifted and I was laughing and playing again.

Fast forward to summer and a lot of laughter and good 'ol family time with the kids ensued.  I love hot midwest summers.  We plant the pool on the deck for three months and enjoy splashing and popscicles.  Oh yes, I get in there too.  What I love about the heat is that I can swim and not get cold.  It's just plain refreshing!  We added goggles to our gear this year and the kids' world opened up a ton.  Matthew was a little fish.

So, you can see my reluctance in beginning a new season.  I want to stay frozen in the last one for just a bit longer.  Everyone seems to be capable of doing "things" by themselves and oh how refreshing that is!  And the big plus?  We were on our own schedule.  This is huge for our family.  To be able to come and go on an open time frame.  If we were a few minutes late to the park, who was going to care?  It's the park afterall so really, how can you be late?

With fall comes school.  And with school comes early mornings and expectations to be on time. 

Oy.

For the past month I've felt like I taken a trip back to the trenches.  Like my life has taken a big 4 year step backward when everyday seemed hard, not fun and full of effort.  When tantrums seemed to rule the day along with bad attitudes.

So while I do love fall, I'm not loving the state of my family.  My days are great, but the drop off and pick up of the big kids can be stressful.  Those last 15min. before we head out the door in the morning~ and those first few minutes when I pick them up in the afternoon can color the day if we're not ready for them.

With September now on its way out, I'm hoping October will bring a fresh new season as well as a few fresh attitudes.

Changes...

It's safe to say we've had a lot of changes around here in the last few weeks! 

Matthew started second grade and Ella Jane started Kindergarten.

Here they are on their first big day.  It's so fun to see Ella Jane's new excitement and apprehension as she begins something totally new.  Matthew?  He's an old pro~ but it's fun to see him talk about new friends and the things they are playing together.

A few days before school starts the Kindergarten teachers drive around to all the kids' houses and plop one of these precious signs in the yard.  I love it!

This face below is so precious to me...I'm love with her expression.

At one point the kids wanted pics of their backs and Sara is trying keep in step.  Isn't she a hoot?

While the big kids are at school Sara and I mostly play.  We've gotten into the habit of dropping the kids off, meandering back home and heading to a park.  I know all too well how fast the weather will turn and before too long park weather will be a thing of the past.  I'm wishing so much that I could bottle up this weather for three more months!  Sigh....

So, knowing that the cold is inevitable, we're taking full advantage of the warm (ish) now.  After the park we head home for some playtime and then lunch.  Then, come to find out this girl is a napper!  For the past year and a half I've had to wake her from a nap to pick up a child from school.  I think she's making up for lost time.  I get the afternoon to do any number of things.  Most of which is refilling my energy tank to welcome home the big kids!  And most days that is a full time job.  After the initial transtion from school to home everyone is anxious to tell a story or ask for some food; read~ "I was talking, he interrupted me!", "mom, can I have a snack?"  After we all spend the next 30min. breathing we're okay.  But until then....look out!~

This is playtime with Sara.  Fun.  Simple.  How I am loving these times with her.

We like to do this activity with our eyes closed!  I think she gets a kick watching me try and figure it out.

So loving these days lately.  Summer still is not far from my mind~ we just had so much fun.  Look forward to shaing about that too.  Soon.

(as we say around here)

Today...

The big kids started school last week.

More on that later.

For now...

Today.

Attew, Yane, and Seewah...

The vocabulary of our two year old sounds sometihing like this...

Me: "C'mon ladies" as we're heading out of a store

Sara: "No, me Seewah!"

Me: "C'mon love" as we were heading out of another store

Sara: "No, me Seewah!"

She spends her days being brave and tossing around new words.  I spend my days reveling in this stage of her life.  It is truly one I'd like to keep for just a bit longer. 

And during the times I can't quite interpret?  Why, I call on big sister of course.  She comes running with such pride and tends to her younger sibling with a huge smile on her face knowing she holds the only key to unlocking the mystery of a new word.  That too, is also a stage I'd like to keep just a bit longer.

Attew (Matthew), Yane (Jane) Seewah (Sara)

How I love the look and sound of these three names!

A visit from the fairy...

Last night marked a first in the Gunn household!  Matthew lost his first tooth. 

It's a big deal because we have realized that many of his other friends have lost teeth and he's been wondering when he would lose teeth too.  "Soon, I guess" was always my reply.  I'd never thought much about it until the dentist mentioned it last spring at his check-up.  She was surprised he hadn't lost any yet, but each in their own time I guess.  What caught me more off guard was that he was due to get his 6yr. molars.  What?  What the heck are 6yr. molars?  Never heard of such a thing.  Do you remember reading this little fact in the scads of books you read about babies when your first child was born?  Me neither. 

Apparantly, they are the molars that are permanent and sure enough, when I went home to look for myself, I saw a few of them peeking through.  As if he were a small child getting teeth for the first time I jumped up and down and squeeled like a brand new mom.  "You're getting your big teeth Matthew!"

I'm pretty sure at that point he reminded me he was in the first grade, but oh well.

Either way it was a thrill to be there for this new milestone.  He'd been wiggling it all evening while we were at the park and then with great gusto exclaimed that it was bleeding as we were heading home.  I wondered if I had change on hand.  I guess from now on I better just keep a little jar of it for such occasions.

It came out shortly after we got home and with great pride he pranced around the house showing everyone. 

And thus, my friends, began the visits from the toothfairy.  He was pleased as punch to see four quarters and a little note under his pillow this morning.

And today, I find myself still getting used to the view.

She's such a love...

The U.H.O. and S.P.Y. Labs...

Our kids have been into pretend spying for quite some time now but it wasn't until just recently that they stepped up their game.

You can take the fort away from the kids but you can't take the kids away from the fort...or something like that. 

You may remember my mention of our little family making our basement a temporary home this summer.  The kids love sleeping down there and it's anything but just a kid in a bed.  At the very least, it's a kid in a sleeping bag, in a bed.  But usually, it's a kid in some elaborate fort, in a sleeping bag, in a bed.

So, in preporation for the upcoming school year, we spent last Saturday cleaning up and picking up.  It took awhile as the kids had hauled down quite a bit of stuff over the course of the last few months.  We had declared the basement clean and ready to be played in...not slept in.

I've enjoyed having my family back upstairs with me at night (you might remember that I'm not so much a basement gal), but over the course of this week, guess what the basement has turned into?

S.P.Y. Labs (superplanningyouthlabs) formerly known as The U.H.O. (undergroundhideout)

Matthew being the super spy that he is comes up with these acronymns and we just go with it.  So, at this very moment, the kids are all upstairs in their beds (although Sara is in the top bunk with Matthew...we'll see how that goes) but the basement?  Well, it's anything but the neat and organized effort from last Saturday! 

It's now the home of S.P.Y. Labs; where the kids have rigged up blankets, pillows, mattresses and more to create something super secret for themselves.  They've even reached a pinnacle moment in the course of every childhood. 

The secret language. 

Oh gosh, I had a good laugh when I heard this bit going on.  Didn't you ever have one of these as a kid?  Or at the very least a secret code or something that you wrote in?  My sister and I had a secret code that we wrote in but it took forever to use it so it didn't last long.

These two big kids are at such a funny stage together right now.  Their playfullness is bringing back some fond memories of our time in Maryland.  Back then, they were great friends.  In the past 2 1/2yrs. I haven't seen much of that friendship per se...

I'm glad I've been seeing it pop in the last few days...

Mini Masterpieces...

Can you guess what we did today?

Yep.  Pretty much.